Archive for April, 2009

51 points from Ray Allen were not enough. The Celtics lost 128-127 to the Bulls in Game 6.

The pivotal moment proved to be Joakim Noah stealing the ball and drawing Paul Pierce’s sixth foul. Noah connected on the three-point play and Pierce headed to the bench where he was shortly joined by Glen Davis, who also fouled out in triple overtime.

Game 7 will be played at 8pm EST in Boston.

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The Celtics and Bulls are heading into double overtime, 109-109. After Ben Gordon fouled out in OT, Doc Rivers took advantage of the bigger lineup and drew up and unexpected inbounds play for Glen Davis who nailed a jumper. John Salmons tied the game back up with a floater, but the Celtics were out of timeouts and Paul Pierce missed a contested shot as time expired.

Following suit of the entire series, Game 6 is heading to overtime tied at 101 apiece. The Celtics went on a 17-3 run in the fourth quarter but got burned by Brad Miller in the final minutes of regulation. He drained a wide open three and drove the lane to get the Bulls back in the game. The Celtics and Bulls have set a record with four overtime games in a postseason series.

After three, the Bulls have an 83-76 lead. After being held scoreless in the first half, Rajon Rondo managed to score six points in the quarter, but he also picked up three fouls and has four heading into the final quarter.

Fouls have been the story of the game so far. After five games of physical play, the refs have called a tight game. The Bulls have been in foul trouble for most of the game, but the Celtics were able to get through the quarter with Big Baby Davis and Kenrick Perkins each keeping their fouls at three. That could be a key development in the last 12 minutes.

The other key is keeping Chicago off the offensive glass. The Bulls had six offensive rebounds in the quarter, after only one getting one in the first half.

Paul Pierce took an inadvertent shot from Tyrus Thomas early in the third quarter and walked off the floor with blood spurting from his mouth. It came on a loose ball situation and it looked like Pierce had a tooth knocked out. The play continued with Kendrick Perkins getting two free throws after the C’s played 4-on-5.

In spite of 29 points from Ray Allen, the Celtics find themselves down 59-57 at halftime. Allen has shot 10-for-15 from the field, including 5-for-7 from three-point range. Paul Pierce is the Celtics second-leading scorer with 12 points.

But Allen’s performance has been overshadowed by the real storyline of the game – foul trouble.

A total of 27 fouls were called in the first half, including a flagrant against Rajon Rondo in the first quarter. Kendrick Perkins, who did not commit a single foul in Game 5, was whistled for three fouls in 12 minutes. Six of the Bulls have been whistled for at least two fouls — Ben Gordon and Kirk Hinrich have been called for three personals.

Watch for Rondo in the second half. He has been uncharacteristically reluctant to drive the paint tonight and is scoreless in 19 minutes. Allen may have the hot hand so far, but Rondo cannot be hesitant with his shot for the rest of the game.